Home tab — Excel guide
The tab you live on: formatting, alignment, number formats, and the everyday editing tools. Alt+H opens it from the keyboard — and most of the sequences worth memorizing start there.
Clipboard
Cut, Copy, Paste — but the real power is the Paste button's dropdown: Paste Special gives you Values (freeze formulas into numbers), Formats, Transpose, and Paste Link. Format Painter copies formatting the way Copy copies content; double-click the brush and it stays loaded for multiple targets.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Paste ▾ | Paste Special: values only, formats only, transpose, link |
| Cut / Copy | Ctrl+X / Ctrl+C — marching ants until you paste or Esc |
| Format Painter | Copy formatting; double-click to paint repeatedly |
Font
Typeface, size, bold/italic/underline, borders, fill color, font color. The Borders dropdown remembers your last pick, so the button repeats it. For anything fancier, Ctrl+1 opens the full Format Cells dialog — the whole group is a shortcut into two of its tabs.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| B / I / U | Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, Ctrl+U |
| Borders ▾ | Grid, outline, top/bottom — All Borders is Alt+H, B, A |
| Fill Color / Font Color | Cell background / text color |
Alignment
Left/center/right, top/middle/bottom, indent, and rotation. Wrap Text lets long entries grow the row instead of spilling. Merge & Center makes one wide cell but DISCARDS everything except the top-left value — for centering a title over columns, Center Across Selection (Ctrl+1 ▸ Alignment) does the same look without breaking sorting and filling.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Wrap Text | Long text grows the row instead of overflowing |
| Merge & Center ▾ | One wide cell — keeps only the top-left value |
| Orientation ▾ | Angle or stack text (skinny column headers) |
Number
The format dropdown (General, Number, Currency, Date…), percent style, comma style, and the increase/decrease decimal buttons. One rule runs this whole group: formats change what you SEE, never the stored value. A cell showing $1,235 can still hold 1234.56789 — every formula uses the real number.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Format dropdown | General, Number, Currency, Accounting, Date… |
| % / , | Percent style (25 becomes 2500%!) / comma with 2 decimals |
| Decimal buttons | Alt+H, 0 adds a decimal · Alt+H, 9 removes one |
Styles
Conditional Formatting is the star: highlight rules, top/bottom, color scales, data bars, icon sets — all rules-driven, so they update as data changes. Format as Table is Ctrl+T with a color picker attached. Cell Styles is a gallery of named looks (Input, Good, Bad, Heading) that keep a workbook consistent.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Conditional Formatting ▾ | Rules, color scales, data bars; Manage Rules to edit |
| Format as Table ▾ | Real Excel Table + a style in one click |
| Cell Styles ▾ | Named formats — Input, Calculation, Heading… |
Cells
Insert and Delete for rows, columns, cells, and sheets. The Format menu is the sleeper: row height, column width, AutoFit, hide/unhide, rename or move sheets, tab color, and Protect Sheet — half of Excel's housekeeping under one dropdown.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Insert ▾ / Delete ▾ | Rows, columns, cells (shift), whole sheets |
| Format ▾ | Sizing, AutoFit, hide/unhide, sheet admin, protection |
Editing
AutoSum writes =SUM() over the numbers above or left (its dropdown does Average, Count, Max, Min). Fill extends series; Clear strips contents, formats, or everything — plain Delete only removes contents, so leftover fills survive it. Sort & Filter and Find & Select round it out; Find & Select hides Go To Special, the blanks-and-errors finder.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| AutoSum ▾ | =SUM() with a guessed range — Alt+= from the keyboard |
| Clear ▾ | All / Formats / Contents — Delete alone leaves formats |
| Find & Select ▾ | Find, Replace, Go To Special (blanks, errors, formulas) |
From the keyboard
The Home tab's rent-paying Alt sequences. Tap Alt, then type the letters in order — no holding.
| Keys | Action |
|---|---|
| Alt+H, O, I | AutoFit column width |
| Alt+H, V, V | Paste values only |
| Alt+H, B, A | All borders |
| Alt+H, M, C | Merge & Center |
| Alt+H, I, R / I, C | Insert row / column |
| Alt+H, 9 / 0 | Fewer / more decimals |